New wildlife corridor connecting MP and Rajasthan to come up after reintroduction of tigers in MNP: Scindia

Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia. Photo/PTI

Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia on Thursday said a new wildlife corridor will form between Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan after three tigers are released in Madhav National Park (MNP) in MP's Shivpuri district.

Three tigers will be released on March 10 (in enclosures) at MNP where the deafening roar of the big cats fell silent 27 years ago," he told reporters here.

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan along with Scindia and state forest minister Vijay Shah will release a tiger captured on the premises of an institute in Bhopal and two tigresses into enclosures in a bid to revive the big cat population in MNP.

Shivpuri borders Sheopur district which houses the Kuno National Park, the new home of 20 cheetahs brought from Namibia and South Africa.

With the reintroduction of three tigers, a wildlife corridor linking MNP, Kuno National Park, Panna Tiger Reserve (all in MP) and Ranthambore Tiger Reserve in Rajasthan will come up, Scindia said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi made KNP popular world over with the re-introduction of cheetahs, the Union minister said.

MNP director Uttam Sharma told PTI that a tiger captured from the campus of the Maulana Azad National Institute of Technology (MANIT) in October will be brought from Satpura Tiger Reserve, while the two tigresses will be brought from Panna and Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserves.

The tiger, after its capture in Bhopal, was released in Satpura in October.

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The three animals, after being kept in separate enclosures for some time, will be released in the wild at MNP which is spread over 375 square kilometres.

This is the third time the MP forest department is going to reintroduce a tiger in a wildlife sanctuary following successful reintroductions in Panna Tiger Reserve and Nauradehi Wildlife Sanctuary in Sagar district, officials said.

MNP has a good prey base for big cats, they added.

The reintroduced tigers would be radio-collared and three teams have been formed to keep an eye on them, officials said.

Additional Principal Conservator of Forests (Wildlife) Subharanjan Sen said MNP once had several tigers.

But since 2010, no tiger has been seen in the area, local officials said, with wildlife experts blaming hunting for their disappearance.

As per reports, tigers from Rajasthan roamed around MNP for some time in 2010-12.

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